Metro State president calls for outside audit after payroll issues

When state Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles' office issued an unflattering compliance audit of Metropolitan State University's internal financial controls last year, faculty members asked the school administration for corrective action.

Minutes from Metro State President Sue Hammersmith's Jan. 25, 2012, meeting with the faculty union show she was unimpressed with the report, as well as the ensuing press coverage. The audit resulted in 12 findings, none of which, she said, was "materially significant."

The minutes show Hammersmith called the audit an opportunity for continuing improvement and said some of the findings had already been corrected. Others struck her as commonplace concerns widespread at other colleges.

This week, it was Hammersmith who was calling for an outside audit.

At least two dozen faculty members who went to pick up lump-sum paychecks Sept. 6 said they were shortchanged thousands of dollars for summer work, and some were not paid at all. For most employees, step increases that should have taken effect in July may not roll out until mid-October.

The Inter Faculty Organization's leadership council met Thursday and voted on a series of demands, including that the union receive weekly status updates once an independent audit gets underway.

Council member Matthew Filner, chair of the Department of Social Science, said the administration had not yet publicly identified a potential auditor, which was a concern.

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But he said there was no public or official discussion at the meeting about hosting a "no confidence" vote in Hammersmith's leadership, adding that a Pioneer Press report Friday that said one was being considered was incorrect.

"There are faculty that are so upset, they are probably thinking in their mind that there should be a vote ... but there was no discussion. It didn't come up," Filner said. "Having said that, any member of the faculty can come up with such a motion."

At Thursday's council meeting, the College of Health, Community and Professional Studies submitted a written motion that called for a more narrow "vote of no confidence in our administration's ability to complete articulation agreements" with local community colleges. Those agreements order how classes are scheduled within a major and "allow for a more seamless transfer of students to Metropolitan State University," according to the motion.

It went on to state that agreements used to take a month to complete, but have remained incomplete for two years or more. The motion was not publicly discussed or voted on Thursday.

"They'll probably bring it up next month," said John Schneider, a biology professor and president of Metro State's Inter Faculty Organization.

A faculty member who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation confirmed that employees were privately weighing whether to move forward with a motion for a general "no confidence" vote in Hammersmith's leadership. That motion could be made during monthly governance meetings of the school's various colleges, as well as the IFO leadership council. "It's a topic of discussion in private," the instructor said. "It could still come up."

Schneider said the union met with MnSCU Chancellor Steven Rosenstone for two hours Friday, and "they have activated everything they can, as best as I can tell," in order to get faculty paid appropriately. "The second piece is to find out what went wrong, and they're going to do that multiple ways," he said.

Schneider said MnSCU has expressed interest in using internal auditors to review payroll, but faculty have asked for an outside auditor.

The administration has acknowledged promotions were not logged correctly, affecting pay rates, and has spent the week scrambling to get paper checks into the hands of "a couple dozen individuals," according to Hammersmith's memo to employees Thursday. Members of the faculty union believe problems are more widespread.